Team Resilience: Boosting host nation relations through sports

By Ms. Shayna E Brouker (IMCOM)March 11, 2014

Team Resilience: Boosting host nation relations through sports
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

WIESBADEN, Germany - The Olympics may be over and they're not in Sochi, but Wiesbaden Soldiers are going for gold -- or at least glory -- against athletes from other countries.

Unit-level competition with host nation athletes is nothing new, and the idea is getting an organized upgrade in order to bolster both resiliency and host nation relations in accordance with the Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Ray Odierno's Army Sports Program.

"Team Resilience," led by Sgt. 1st Class Adam Martinez, U.S. Army Garrison Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security noncommisioned officer-in-charge, has initiated and planned several measures to encourage participation.

One of the existing partnerships includes combat sports. Soldiers from U.S. Army Garrisons Baumholder and Wiesbaden, and the Army Recruiting Team-Europe most recently held a clinic at the Warrior Training Center to share training tips and techniques. It was the first joint training session to take place in the Combat Sports Training Facility between host nation and American Soldiers.

"We want to provide more team building and sports events for tenant units, as well as more sporting opportunities for families, Department of Defense civilians, and youth," he said. "We want to continue to build host nation relations for the Wiesbaden community -- not just for boxing, but for all sports."

The combat sports organization plans to hold more events like these in the future as new members, such as the private organization "Team Choco," join the program. Team Choco recently took over the martial arts section of the Combat Sports program. The program offers a wide variety of skills that are available to the community, including Brazilian jiu-jitsu, freestyle grappling, Muay-Thai, K1-style kickboxing and boxing.

Soldiers even traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, to spar with the best in the European Open Jiu-Jitsu Championships Jan. 23-26, an event the team takes part in every year.

Other burgeoning partnerships include the Hessen State Boxing Association and the handicapped wheelchair basketball team, the Rhein River Rhinos. The team lost its training location, so Combat Sports offered the Warrior Training Center for its use.

The Warrior Training Center now has full-duty cadre assigned to fill the gap identified between Morale, Welfare and Recreation and tenant units. MWR provides services and events, and Team Resilience wants to ensure they're trickling down to the company level. But they aim to get non-uniformed athletes involved, too.

"The primary focus has always been our active duty Soldiers and their families; however, the resiliency piece goes much further than that," said Maria Diaz, DFMWR management support specialist and a personal trainer and fitness instructor with 16 years' experience.

"It's about community and bringing our civilians, who are a vital part of this workforce, into it as well. We are not recreating anything, this is simply a committee and a process that has been invigorated with new initiative and drive to continue with the garrison commander's vision of 'Wiesbaden, your home in Germany.'"

The next unit-level event will be a combatives tournament March 29.

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